You'e Not Alone- One Shot
by ShandyCandy278
Summary: An Akuma rampaging on the streets of Paris? Pretty Normal. Marinette being handcuffed to Chat Noir? No, not really. Rated T to be safe. MariChat/Adrinette. Reveal.


Marinette sighed.

Another failed attempt to ask the guy of her dreams out on a date.

She rounded the corner, not exactly paying attention to her surroundings-

Only to be grabbed by her wrist, and a weird infinity-handcuff-thing was attached to the wrist grabbed, encasing her wrist in one side of the infinity symbol. She gasped, looking up as people around her started to scream and run away.

The person who had done this was around her age. His long black hair was tied into a ponytail at the nape of his neck almost majestically. A white mask surrounded his eyes, looking like the infinity symbol as well. His suit was white too, but chains (Or were those back-to-back infinity symbols?) of sorts colored in grey and black covered the whole thing.

"I," He began in a soft, soothing tone. "Am Infinity, and I assure you that you won't be alone for long."

"Huh?"

"In fact." He smirked, floating up in the sky. Marinette seemed to float up as well, following him against her will. "You won't have to be alone for the rest of your life! You will be with someone for eternity, we'll just have to find the right person for you. You have that special vibe around you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a device of sorts. He took a picture of her and pressed some buttons. Then he tugged her along.

"Come, your everlasting partner is this way."

It finally sunk in that she was now a victim of an akuma victim, unable to transform, and she sighed.

' _I hope Chat will be able to take care of this by himself.'_ She thought, watching as he threw Infinity handcuffs at couples and other people, keeping them together. ' _It looks like Ladybug will be sitting this one out.'_

62397562736597265972635627365972365972365972

Adrien smiled, finished changing out of his fencing uniform.

"Are you gonna give me cheese now?" Plagg asked.

"Yeah, yeah, hold up." Adrien reached for his bag, picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder. Plagg zoomed into the bag, and Adrien began to walk out of the building, whistling happily.

Today had been a good day. He had managed to talk to Marinette and hold a conversation with her without her stuttering too badly, his father had decided to give him the next two days off from modeling, and he was to meet up with his lady tonight at the top of the Eiffel tower.

Even better, there wasn't an akuma that interrupted school today! While it would be nice to see his lady again, it wouldn't exactly be worth it for his attendance record. He guessed he was lucky that his father only cared about his grades.

Maybe they'd have an akuma free day? Those usually happened twice a month…

Screams erupted from the street, and Adrien sighed.

Not today, it seemed. Maybe tomorrow.

He rushed over to the window, looking around the street, and then checking the sky. The akuma was heading straight for the school, someone floating behind him, arms folded in an annoyed fashion.

"Wait…" Adrien leaned forward before his eyes widened. "What?! That's Marinette!"

"You gonna save your girlfriend again?" Plagg asked. Adrien rolled his eyes.

"She's not my girlfriend. Marinette's just a really good friend. A princess who deserves a prince." He smirked. "Anyway- Plagg, Claws Out!"

"But cheeeesee~!"

Not that long after, Chat Noir rushed out of the building, looking up at the akuma. Infinity looked at the device thing in his hand and then back down at Chat Noir. He did it again, a smirk growing on his face.

"Looks like we've found your match, Ms. Dupain-Cheng."

"My match?" Marinette blinked, looking up at him, confused.

"Everlasting partner." He explained. "The one person in the world who can truly make sure that you never feel alone or neglected. I sensed you had someone. Also, just as he's yours, your his." He put his device away. "This will make things easier for me, since I'll also be putting one of Paris' superheroes out of the way. I'll retrieve his miraculous after I subdue Ladybug."

"No way, milady would never allow it." Chat Noir smirked, ignoring his extreme confusion towards what the akuma was talking about. "Besides, I don't think that this cat is gonna get tied up any time soon."

"We'll see about that." He snapped his fingers, and Marinette was suddenly on her own, but unable to move around.

"Run, Chat!" She exclaimed. Chat Noir got into a fighting stance anyway. Marinette groaned.

 _Why was her partner such a hard-head?_

Infinity summoned a shield thing of sorts and used it to block Chat Noir's attacks with his baton. Chat Noir retreated a bit before running along the school's walls, and then launching himself at Infinity. Infinity used his shield to then launch Chat Noir into the sky and towards Marinette.

The second his left hand got close to her right, the infinity handcuffs captured it. The spell that was used to keep Marinette still vanished, forcing her to follow Chat Noir towards wherever he landed- it looked like it was going to be a building.

Before they crashed, Chat Noir somehow managed to take her and push her to his chest, protecting her from the impact. His back hit the wall, and they fell towards the ground, just happening to land in a dumpster. Infinity smirked and nodded before flying off as the two struggled to climb out of the dumpster with their hands cuffed together.

"A-Are you alright?" Chat Noir asked as he finished climbing out, reaching over to help Marinette up.

"I'm fine." She said, accepting the help. "I should be the one asking you that! You totally just crashed into the building!"

"I'm a superhero, princess. It doesn't hurt at all." He winked at her, but Marinette didn't believe him as he winced when he stood up straight and lifted their joined arms up to his face.

"We gotta get out of this." He said. "Then I can join Ladybug in fighting him and setting everything right. Don't take this _purr_ sinally, princess." Marinette rolled her eyes, and Chat Noir lifted his right hand up. "Cataclysm!"

He swung his right hand down on the infinity cuffs. It seemed to lose it's durability a bit, becoming not as restricting as before, and stretchier. But it didn't fall off, or disintegrate, or break apart.

"What?!" Marinette gasped, tugging on the cuffs. It stretched a bit, but she could tell that Chat Noir was holding his arm still so that it didn't follow her and stopped. "Why didn't it let us go?!"

"I don't know." Chat Noir groaned as his ring beeped. "I probably should've thought that one through more carefully."

"Here." She grabbed his staff and handed it to him. "We can go to my house, my parents are gone for the next 48 hours, so if we don't find an immediate solution you have some privacy for whenever you need to detransform."

"Right." He nodded. They shuffled around a bit until Marinette was holding onto him with her left hand around his neck, and his right hand holding onto the staff. She was pressed tightly against him, thanks to the cuffs, and soon they were soaring towards her bakery.

"We can walk in through the front door." She said. "M-My room is… a mess?" She half asked. She cleared her throat. "Will you need anything?"

"Uhh… do you have any Camembert?" Chat Noir asked.

"We have some cheese pastries." Marinette admitted as they touched the ground. "We can look for some there." His ring beeped a three minute warning as they entered, and Marinette instantly went to the cheese pastries, consequently dragging Chat Noir around as she filled a plate full. She placed the plate into his right hand and then dragged him up the stairs.

Two minute warning.

"We have a bathroom up here you can use to hide in." She said, not looking at him, so she missed the awed look on his face.

"Aren't you curious?" He asked. "About my identity?"

"Yes." Marinette admitted after a bit, arriving at the bathroom. She opened it. "Isn't everyone in Paris?" He chuckled at her response, walking into the bathroom. She closed it behind him. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to discover your identity unless you want me to know."

"That's very kind of you, princess." Chat Noir admitted. A green light marked his transformation sequence, and Marinette closed her eyes instinctively.

"Cheese~!" She heard his kwami whine.

"This is the best we've got at the moment." She heard Chat say from the other side of the door. She was taken aback by how familiar he sounded to her, but she didn't comment on it.

"Just this once, kid." Adrien sighed slightly on the other side of the door, resting against it, his left hand practically tied to the door.

"So…" He spoke when the silence was starting to sound a little _too_ much like the silence in his house. "I think I understand what the akuma does, but do you have any insight?"

"Like where the akuma would be?" Marinette asked.

"I was leaning more towards why and what he was aiming at, but that would be helpful information for Ladybug too." Marinette mentally facepalmed before shifting against the door, leaning against it.

"I think the akuma is in Infinity's necklace. It's a sharktooth." She admitted. "As for why though… he seemed very against the idea of people being alone or lonely. He literally grabbed me, handcuffed me, and then said that 'I would never be alone ever again.' As nice as that sounds, we all need _some_ privacy."

"I agree with you there." Adrien reached behind him, but stopped when he realized that he wasn't transformed. "As soon as I can contact Ladybug, I'll let her know the situation that we're in. Maybe a second cataclysm would-"

"No!" Marinette exclaimed. "I-I mean, what if she's a civilian when you call her? And she's already been connected to someone?"

"I'm sure she'd be able to keep it vague enough that whoever she was stuck with would have no idea." Adrien replied, confident. "And we connected our superhero phones to our civilian phones without giving out phone numbers. Besides, milady's smarter and stronger than me. She wouldn't let herself get caught up and not call me right away. She'll pull through. She always does."

' _As long as you don't call me.'_ Marinette thought, glancing at the phone in her pocket. ' _I'll be able to do it without my biggest secret being let out.'_

Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse, flying up to whisper into her ear. "If you want, I can turn your phone off or text-respond to his calls for you." Marinette smiled gratefully at her kwami and nodded. "I'll be upstairs 'cleaning up' for you." Tikki phased through the ceiling.

"Why are your parents gone?" Adrien asked, for once observing the bathroom around him. It was small, petite, and cute- kinda like Marinette and her family.

"It's a special event order outside of Paris." Marinette explained. "It was demanded of them to go over there and make sure that everything was as it should be. Maman and papa didn't complain, and insisted that I stay behind for school if I even mentioned coming along. This wouldn't be the first time it's happened, although it is a rare occasion."

"I see." He paused. "Is… Is that why you were lonely?"

He felt horrible. She was all alone in her house, and he didn't even notice! She would've told them about something like that, right? Did he miss it when she talked about it?

"Kinda." Marinette sighed. "I guess that it might've also been because I failed again."

"Failed?" This was news to Adrien's ears. "Failed at what?"

"Asking the guy I like out." She mumbled, blushing.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Whenever I even see a hint of him somewhere I freak out. I stumble over my words and act like a _huge_ dorkasaurus in front of him." She sighed dreamily. "He's just so kind, and sweet, and gentle, and hot~"

"So the princess has a prince." Adrien laughed, making a mental note of it. He had never heard of it before, or even noticed that she liked someone like that.

' _Man, I need to pay more attention to my friends.'_

"A prince?" Marinette asked, frowning and furrowing her eyebrows, shifting against the door. "Well, you're not wrong, but so many people see him as a prince that I don't exactly want him to be my _prince_. A lot of responsibilities come with that word, and he already has more than enough on his plate. It's more like…" She paused, trying to find the right words. "I'd want him to be my friend. My partner. He's my everything, and I want him to know that, but I also want us to be equals."

"You… you really love him." He muttered softly, eyes wide.

"Yeah." Marinette blushed, hiding behind her left hand, her right hand still restricted. "It's silly, because I can't even get a word out to him, much less tell him how I feel."

"It's not silly." Adrien replied as he watched Plagg eat the last of the cheese.

"If you say so." Tikki flew down at Marinette and winked, hiding in Marinette's purse.

"Would you be willing to try another cataclysm?" Adrien asked.

"Get me more cheese and maybe I will." Plagg replied. Marinette pretended not to hear, but she spoke anyway.

"Would you need more cheese?"

"Uh… yeah, I would."

"Then we should probably wait a bit. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly want to stand for another ten minutes." Marinette laughed.

"Yeah, you're right." He said. "Claws out!" Seconds later, he stepped out of the bathroom. Marinette smiled at him.

"Do you want to do anything specific?" She asked.

"Not really." He pulled out his staff. "I really should check on Ladybug." He pressed the call button, and Marinette froze.

Her phone started buzzing, but it was quickly silenced. Chat Noir blinked, staring at her. She returned the favor, feigning innocence. Then he looked down at his staff to see that Ladybug had hung up and sent a reply text.

"A bit tied up at the moment. Try again later." He read. "Huh…"

"C-Come on, Chat Noir." Marinette used the hand that was cuffed to grab his hand that was cuffed. "We can play some video games while we wait."

"Wouldn't that be hard?" Chat Noir asked, looking down at their cuffed hands.

"You doubt my gaming ability." She said with a smirk. "I'll have you know, Chaton, that I beat my father with my right arm in a cast fair and square."

"Oh?"

"Yup!" She smiled up at him. "And that's an impressive feat, since I'm a righty and all."

"You're on, princess." Chat Noir smirked. He let Marinette drag him around a bit to select a game and then place it in, grabbing two remotes for them.

"Are you hungry? We might want to get some food before we sit down to start playing."

"Not really. Let's just start playing." They sat down on the couch, turning on their remotes and preparing to battle.

93265763756723523657263576239756

Five rounds later, Marinette smiled cheekily at Chat Noir as he glared lightly at her, cookie halfway in his mouth. They had stopped to eat some snacks at the end of round three after their stomachs growled, and he really couldn't keep his paws off of them.

His dietitian was going to kill him, he was sure of it.

"You really are a champ."

"I'm pretty sure that I gave you fair warning when this was loading up." Marinette began to stretch, but stopped when her hand began to drag his along. She glared at the cuffs. "This is getting really annoying though."

"Ladybug hasn't responded to my call yet." Chat Noir muttered, checking his staff. He shifted nervously. "She wouldn't let her miraculous get taken, but…"

Marinette felt her heart swell. "I'm sure she's fine. She might be in a just as sticky situation as you are."

"I guess."

"We could try the cataclysm now if you want." Marinette pointed out. "We have some cheese in the fridge you could use.

"Yeah, that would probably be best." He looked down at the infinity cuffs between them.

"We should get the cheese ready first." Marinette stood up, and Chat Noir followed her around as she prepared a plate full of cheese, and they ended up standing by the bathroom for it. He raised his hand up high.

"Cataclysm!"

The cuffs sagged at the destructive energy that was being forced into them, almost melting and shifting until the material reached in between their ankles and knees. Chat Noir scowled as Marinette lifted up her hand and touched the cuffs, observing them.

"Cataclysm only makes them stretch." She remarked softly as Chat Noir opened the door to the bathroom and walked back inside, closing the door behind him. Because the cuffs were only stretched, Marinette could slide down and sit on the floor and lean against the bathroom door, instead of standing. Chat Noir, whether he knew what she did or not, followed suit.

"Claws in." Plagg instantly flew to the cheese plate on the counter, and Adrien and Marinette sat there in silence.

"So…" Marinette paused. "I've been meaning to ask this, but… are you lonely?"

"I guess?" He replied uncertainty. "I mean, I have my friends, Ladybug, my job, but… father's kinda distant, and mom's gone." He admitted. "I used to be holed up in my house for most of the day until this past year, and Ladybug doesn't exactly like the idea of us meeting outside of suit."

Was that vague enough?

"Oh." Marinette blinked. "Well, I guess that kinda is lonely."

"But I have my friends." Adrien smiled. "That's all I really need- well, besides milady that is."

"Ladybug… is Ladybug really that important to you?"

"Just as important, if not more, that your prince, princess." Chat Noir admitted. "She's so kind, and strong, and stubborn, and cute. She was one of the first friends that I ever made, and she's my world." He groaned. "But whenever I try to tell her, I get nervous and start punning, or dishing out jokes. My question will come out wrong, and she'll think I'm being intrusive. There was this one time that I was really close, but then…" He faded off, shaking his head. "I really do have the luck of a black cat."

Marinette remained silent, processing what her partner (not that he knew that) had said.

"That…" She hesitated. "That's really sweet of you, Chat. Anyone would be lucky to have you."

' _I know I am.'_

"Right back at you, Marinette." Adrien sighed. "Right back at you."

"You know, the sun's setting." Marinette pointed out. Adrien cursed. "Is something wrong?"

"Could you, uhh, plug your ears?" He asked. "I have to call someone."

"Alright." Marinette lifted her hands up and covered her ears, humming a little tune. Adrien picked up his phone and called Nathalie.

"Adrien." He heard her say only a few seconds later. "Where have you been? We've been looking around for you for about three hours now!"

"Sorry, I got caught up in the akuma attack." He admitted truthfully. "I got cuffed to a classmate and we're hiding out until Ladybug and Chat Noir take care of it."

"They're taking a while, there have only been sightings of Chat Noir." Nathalie muttered. Adrien felt his heart squeeze nervously. Was his lady okay? "I'll tell your father. If this issue of the akuma isn't solved soon, you'll tell us where you're hiding out and we'll come and get you and whoever you're connected to."

"Yes, Nathalie. Good bye."

"Bye."

"I'm full, kid." Plagg said, and Adrien nodded.

"Claws out." He opened the door, only to see Marinette still sitting there with her hands blocking out sound. He chuckled, tapping her shoulder. She jumped, turning around to face him.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, for now anyway." He looked toward the window. "You said that the sun was setting?"

"Yes." Marinette nodded, standing up.

"Then we should probably go to sleep. We can figure something out in the morning." He looked around. "We could sleep on the couch-"

"Couch isn't for sleeping." Marinette said instantly, blushing. "I know where the best place would be."

"Your parents room?"

"No, that place is off-limits." Chat Noir blushed as well.

"Oh. So… upstairs then?"

"Yes. Upstairs." Marinette led the way, Chat Noir not having to be right by her side, but still having to be close to her. She had to admit, it was more comfortable that before.

There was no way that she'd be able to change into normal clothes, but this wouldn't be the first time that she fell asleep without changing into pajamas. He observed her room a bit before following her up to her bed. They situated the sheets around them.

"Fair warning." Marinette decided to say, yawning and then snuggling into the blankets. Chat Noir could see her perfectly, even with only the moonlight in the room that wasn't even shining on her. "I move a lot in my sleep."

"I'll live." Chat Noir said softly, watching Marinette's breathing even out. He stared at her, observing her.

If he was completely honest, this was the first time in a long time that he actually felt welcome and wanted around anyone besides Ladybug. It was a soothing, comfortable feeling that felt as though all was right with the world.

The only difference between Ladybug and Marinette, though, was that he could get closer to Marinette.

He lifted his left hand up to gently brush some hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. He smiled.

' _Marinette really is a great friend.'_ He thought, closing his eyes and falling asleep.

02658365823650723659723695723562365

Marinette smiled and snuggled into the warmth beside her. A soothing, rumbling feeling enveloped her, and she sighed happily.

Chat Noir blushed, looking away from Marinette's face.

Yes, he had woken up first.

No, he couldn't stop the purr, no matter how hard he tried.

No, he wouldn't push her off or wake her up.

Yes, he was very comfortable right now and felt the most relaxed that he had been in ages.

And so, here he was, Marinette laying on top of him and cuddling him happily. His left and her right hands still connected to each other from the infinity cuffs.

Actually, they were intertwined with each other.

Since when had her hands been so much smaller than his?

He had tried calling Ladybug three times already, but every time she didn't answer, even with a text. He had checked the news as well, they were all wondering where he and Ladybug were.

' _I hope you're okay, milady.'_ He thought, sighing. Marinette shifted on top of him, getting into a more comfortable position.

"Silly… kitty…" She murmured.

His purr grew louder, and he blushed.

He didn't even know how Marinette did it, but not only did she manage to look cute at all times- she managed to make him feel comfortable, content, and not lonely without even being awake to talk to him.

His thoughts traveled to the guy that she said that she liked. Her prince.

With the way she talked about him, it was clear that she liked him just as much as he loved his lady- and for all the right reasons, if his memory served him correct.

He ran through a mental list of boys in his mind. Not Ivan or Nino, they were already taken. Not Nathaniel, Max, or Kim either, he had overheard Marinette talking to Alya about it.

Marinette only saw Kim and Max as friends, and she admitted that she would accept a date from Nathaniel, but she didn't want to get his hopes up.

He mentally groaned. With all of the information at his disposal, he could've figured it out before now that she liked someone. He just didn't know who.

He _really_ needed to pay more attention to his friends.

Marinette sighed sleepily, smiling as she snuggled into her 'pillow'. She opened one of her eyes sleepily.

As she woke, she noticed that she was laying ontop of something, and that she was still cuffed. She gave her cuffed hand that was intertwined with a black-gloved hand a confused look before she relaxed.

' _That's right, the akuma. I'm handcuffed to Chat Noir for now- until we can defeat him..'_

' _Wait…'_

' _CHAT NOIR?!'_

She squeaked, jumping off of him and almost launching herself off of the bed. Chat Noir reacted instantly, grabbing her and pulling her over to him. Unfortunately, their heads collided into each other when he saved her, and they both hissed in pain.

"S-Sorry, are you alright?" Marinette asked, cradling her forehead.

"Yeah, you?"

"I'll be good after some breakfast." Chat Noir nodded, and they both got up and went downstairs. Marinette decided to play it safe and got out some cereal and milk while Chat Noir reached for the spoons and bowls.

"What are we gonna do?" Marinette asked.

"I don't know. Ladybug isn't picking up and there haven't been any signs of her either." He ran a hand through his hair.

Marinette sighed.

It was starting to look like there was no other way.

She looked behind Chat Noir to see Tikki nodding her approval, and she gathered up all of her courage.

"Chat…" She swallowed. "I think I know why that is."

"Really?" He asked. Marinette nodded, looking down and to the side.

"I really didn't want for it to happen this way." She admitted. "I had it all planned out, like I have everything else planned out, and-"

"Planned out?" She was only making him more confused _and_ stalling. She took a calming breath before looking him in the eye.

"Tikki, Spots On."

She watched as his eyes grew impossibly wide, his breath stille and jaw dropped. She was temporarily blinded when the transformation covered her face.

It was silent.

She watched as he clenched his fists and unclenched them, his eyes wide. They blinked once, looking at her. He closed his mouth and opened it again, but no words came out. She pushed her index fingers together nervously.

"M-Marinette…?" He asked. She waved.

"Hi, Chat." She laughed a little bit, awkwardly. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I thought that I would've been able to find a way out of this mess before now, but I couldn't think of anything…" She ducked her head, curling in on herself a bit as she pushed her index fingers together again. "I hope you can forgive me…"

"Pun."

"What?"

"Just…" He blushed, lifting a hand up to his face to hide his embarrassment. "Could you… pun for me?"

"O-Okay." She cleared her throat, he he peeked out from under his hands to meet her eyes. "Hello, Chaton. Supurrised to see me?"

A smile grew on his face, but she could still see the blush that was lighting up his cheeks.

"Very." He admitted, still hiding behind his hands in an attempt to stop her from seeing his blush.

"W-We should focus on the akuma." Marinette pointed out, and Chat Noir nodded seriously, but the smile never left his face as he let his hands fall away.

She supposed he was happy…

What Marinette didn't know was that Chat Noir was internally screaming at himself for not noticing it sooner AND freaking out that he had cuddled with the love of his life in his sleep. He was only smiling so as not to make her worry about him.

"I was thinking that we could set up a trap or something. I'm sure that there are still people who haven't been cuffed yet. When he comes close, I use my yoyo to grab him around his feet, and you can use Cataclysm on his shield. Then we get his necklace and free the akuma."

"Yes. W-Wonderful plan, milady." Chat Noir complimented, clearing his throat. "Who are we going to use?" Clearly his voice wasn't helping him hide the internal torment he was in, as she gave him a quick once over.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ladybug said, eyes wide as she blushed. "We should probably talk more about this, shouldn't we?"

"We should." He admitted. "But it doesn't have to be right now, unless you want it to, because I don't mind if you want to talk about it right now, but we can totally wait until after we've fought Infinity to talk about it if you want to, I honestly don't care if we talk about it now or not, but we probably should talk about it- that is, if you want to, I'd never pressure you to do something you don't want to do-"

"It's okay, Chat Noir." Ladybug said, placing her hand over his, and Chat Noir's heart leapt up to his throat in an attempt to escape. "We'll talk about it right after we defeat Infinity."

"Okay." Chat Noir nodded. "Who're we going to use?"

"We'd have to wander around a bit to find them." Ladybug admitted. "And then talk to the Mayor about it, it would be ideal to use his hotel's roof."

"Then let's go."

9237657365926357629365

Turned out, they didn't have to look far. Chloe was kept nice and safe for the akuma attack, and to get rid of the akuma, Mayor Borgeous was willing to let his daughter be used as bait- under the premise of her not being hurt, of course.

Chloe wasn't willing, either. But after some convincing and praises, she was standing out there.

"Woe is me!" She exclaimed dramatically, earning a facepalm from the two superheroes. "I'm so lonely~! My Adrikins will never return my feelings, and father's too busy to look after me! Won't someone- anyone save me from such loneliness?"

Somehow, that was enough for the akuma to appear, landing before Chloe and studying her.

"Why, isn't it the majestic daughter of the mayor." He said. "What a damsel in distress- we must find someone for you to be with- you are truly lonely." He tsked. "But not just anyone will fix this loneliness, oh no- like so few people in Paris, you can only be truly accompanied by one person." Infinity took out a pair of handcuffs. Ladybug and Chat Noir nodded, and they leapt forward. Infinity blocked them with his shield, but Chat Noir raised his hand.

"Cataclysm!" The shield disintegrated. "Now, Ladybug!"

"On it!" Ladybug used her yoyo to wrap around Infinity, preventing him from flying off. She reached for the necklace and tore it off, throwing it onto the ground and breaking it. She retracted her yoyo in time to catch and purify the akuma.

"Bye bye little butterfly. Lucky Charm!" In her hands, a small penny appeared. She threw it up into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

As all of the damage was cleaned and handcuffs disappeared, a the young man went back to normal. His blue eyes, which were previously grey, looked around in confusion.

"What…"

"Pound it!"

"Where am I?" The young man stood up, looking around.

"I'll take care of him- why don't you go and recharge? We'll meet up tonight for patrol, as usual."

"Of course, my lady." Chat Noir leaned down and kissed her hand slowly. He looked back up at her after the chaste kiss with a small smile, pleased to see the small blush. "I'll be slowly counting the minutes till we meet again." Then he rushed away.

Ladybug blinked after him before looking up at the young man who was akumatized. "What's your name?"

"David. David Fullcaster." He said.

"Do you want me to take you anywhere? Like home, or a friends house?"

"Ahh, y-yeah, my friend Austin's house."

"Where does he live?"

"I-I can't remember the street…" He admitted.

"That's okay, most akuma victim's memories are fuzzy after akumatization." Ladybug said with a soft smile. "Do you remember anything near your friend's house?"

"Yeah, it's by the zoo."

"Alright then, let's get you over there and see if you can remember anything, okay?" The young man nodded, and she gave him a lift.

Once he remembered where his friend's house was, and she had delivered him there, she made it home quite quickly.

She landed on her bed and detransformed, walking down the stairs.

"Let me go and get you some cookies Tik-" She was interrupted when she was enveloped in a hug from behind. "What the-"

"It was you." The _bare_ arms that came from behind her held her tighter, and she could feel something wet on her shoulder. "All this time… you don't know how _happy_ I am, Mari."

"Chat…?"

"Yeah." Marinette hugged the arms that were held secure around her, rubbing soothing circles on his arms.

He was _detransformed,_ and _right behind her._

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I couldn't go back home." He admitted. "Not- Not back to that nightmare. Not when you're home alone, and not when I feel so wanted and needed and _loved_ with you." Chat rubbed his cheek against the back of her neck, and she could feel him hold back some sobs.

"Chat…"

"Mari, you're so-so amazing!" He said. "You're so kind and helpful and sweet and kind, and-and you love all of you friends so, so much, a-and you even like _me_ in and out of the mask, and that-that's the most amazing feeling in the world… you-you have no idea… And when I-I leave, that's all gonna be over, b-but I don't- I don't want to wake up."

"Kitty…" Marinette turned around so that she could properly hug him. She didn't see his face, but she didn't need to when she recognized his clothes and the shoes on his feet. "It's okay. I got you. You're safe, I'm here."

"M-Marinette." She felt him collapse on her, and she gently lowered them to the floor as he sobbed. He clung to her desperately.

"You don't have to go anywhere." She said to the mop of blonde hair resting on her shoulder. "You can stay here- I'll always be here. Whenever you need me, I'll be here." He hugged her tighter, and she hugged him just as tight, one of her hands combing through his soft, gold tresses. "I'm here, Adrien. You won't have to be alone ever again."

They stayed like that for several minutes, until the body she was holding close to her own seemed to breath evenly again. He pulled away, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry." He said after a moment.

"There's nothing for you to apologize about." Marinette said, running a hand through his hair a bit to soothe him, but also to fix it up from the mess that it was.

"You-You didn't need to see that." He said, blushing a bit in embarrassment. "And you probably still wanted me to keep my identity secret…"

"Hey, I told you it's okay, right?" Marinette smiled, letting her hand tuck a small strand of blonde hair behind his ear, looking at him in such a loving way that Adrien's heart threatened to tear out of his chest. She let her fingers graze his cheek lightly before she stood up, offering a hand to him. He stood up as well, but to his surprise she didn't let go of his hand. Instead, she used it to guide him along, towards the stairs.

"Your kwami likes cheese, right?"

"He's probably already found his way to the cheese in your fridge." Adrien admitted sheepishly with a small laugh.

"And Tikki probably went down to go and get her cookies, so why don't we go down, bring out some snacks, and play some Ultimate Mecha Strike?"

Adrien smiled so hard that he knew that if he continued to smile like this, he's get face cramps.

"That sounds _purr_ fect."

"Silly kitty." Marinette booped him on the nose in a loving fashion, before opening up the doorway to the downstairs. "You know I'm going to beat you."

"Yeah." He admitted, and when she turned to look at him, he made sure to put all the love he had for her into his smile. "But I don't care."

"W-W-Well, uh," He watched as she blushed, tucking some loose hair behind her ear as she stuttered. "Al-Alright then." She seemed to get a hold of herself and guided him down the stairs.

To be honest, for Adrien, it had felt weird when he had separated from his Princess' side. And that's part of the reason why he had come to visit her.

The rest was to just not be alone, and that he just wanted to be with her, which were kinda the same thing.

But as he watched her walk around the kitchen to prepare some snacks for them, chatting easily with their Kwami, he knew that Infinity had had a point.

Marinette really was the only person that didn't make him feel lonely.


End file.
